Buffalo Rising Online

Feb 26th, 9:57am By Elena Cala Buscarino

Charles Griffasi Jr. has been in the concrete business for 30 years, pouring floors and driveways. "But no one ever stood back and said, 'Wow, that's a beautiful driveway.'" However, the concrete countertops, tables and bars Griffasi makes through his new company, Concrete Innovations, are more than beautiful; each one is a unique work of art.

The variables are endless. The cement is the glue, and when mixed with the aggregate—sand and stone—it creates concrete. The aggregate can be varied by color, and it will differ in appearance depending on how much of it is exposed through the polishing process. The coarser the sanding and the deeper it goes, the more the stone will appear.

Then there is the basic color of the concrete. Color can be mixed in, put on the surface, or both. Shades of white, grey, beige, green, rust, red, charcoal and cobalt are all options with a wide range of variations within each of those. On top of that, the finished product can be acid-washed, stained and stenciled. Beyond that, materials such as glass, geodes or ceramic tile can be imbedded in the surface, the surface can be embossed (think of leaves pressed into it), and patterns can be "carved" into the surface by pouring the concrete over beads of silicone and then stripping them out of the hardened concrete. The ruts left behind can then be filled with another color of concrete, giving an inlaid effect.

Griffasi said that about 75 percent of his business comes from the Internet, and about 95 percent of that comes from out of town. He's doing his best to forge relationships with local kitchen and bath stores, designers and architects because he understands the importance of having people who are in the business of beautifying homes and offices do his bidding. "I'm interested in getting the individual what they want," Griffasi said. He estimates that most of his work is residential, with a typical client between the ages of 30 and 50.

Citing Fu-Tung Cheng as the "guru of concrete" Griffasi held up a thick book full of examples of Cheng's work, a place where Griffasi gets many of his ideas. With a background in concrete as solid as the driveways he's poured, and a commitment to bring his clients' vision to fruition, Griffasi has hit on something that's just making its way into the Buffalo market. "After 30 years of limbo in the concrete business, here I am," he said. "I love it."

Somewhat late to the table, Charlie the laborer is joining his siblings in creative pursuits; his sister, Michele owns and operates Michele for Hair on Elmwood Avenue, and their brother, Carl, is an agency art director and the designer of Concrete Innovations' brochure. Charles Sr. has been making the wooden box structures for window treatments for years, so the creative gene runs deep in this family.

Griffasi credits this turn around in his career to several factors. First, there's the call for environmentally friendly "green" home products. Next is a penchant among homeowners for unique elements. And finally, Griffasi is indebted to the change in his career that was brought about as a result of a class he took with UB's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL). The CEL takes a group of business owners through a course in which the members of the group examine each business. The members brainstorm each other's operations in order to come up with the optimum plan to meet each business' immediate goals.

Fellow CEL members are responsible in some part for what Griffasi is doing now and where he's doing it. It was classmates Kevin Telaak, Vice President of the high-end appliance store, Appliance Associates, who suggested Griffasi take a stab at countertop production, and Trey McDermid, Vice President of Frontier Lumber, who said he just happened to have the perfect workshop space behind his Elmwood Avenue location, where Griffasi does his new thing.

Griffasi is happy to be joined in the business by his son, Jason, a graduate of Pace University with a degree in business finance. Jason spent some time working as a mortgage broker, but wears a lot of hats in this small family owned business. Chiefly in charge of marketing, "Jason smoothes out my rough edges," Griffasi laughs.

Other than making countertops, Griffasi offers a service in which he polishes concrete floors with a 600-pound sander with diamond pads that can uncover the aggregate and make any floor look like exotic stone, rather than concrete. Add to that the capability of staining the existing concrete and Griffasi can offer his clients a highly polished, glossy, carefree floor that never needs wax. With the existence of underlayment that has heat coils in it, one can have a gorgeous, heated floor for around the same cost as linoleum.

Chosen to do the featured kitchen at this years Home Show in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, Griffasi said, "It's versatile, it's a green material, you can manipulate it any way you want. It's art for your kitchen. Your own creation." When asked what his grandfather would have thought about bring concrete in the house as an aesthetic feature, Charlie shakes his head, "Never would've happened."

www.concreteinnovationscorp.com

Look for Concrete Innovations at this year's Home and Garden Show, March 1 - 9 at the Buffalo Convention Center.